Information session registration. Virtual event includes introductions to faculty and space tour.
Expand your arts practice at USC Roski School in the Los Angeles Arts District with renowned faculty and peer collaboration within a world class university.
A key feature of USC Roski School graduate programs is the unparalleled access students have across diverse fields of study at USC. One of the world’s leading research universities and home to 19 professional schools, USC offers vibrant interdisciplinary platforms for education and experimentation, providing myriad possibilities for complementary fields of study.
USC Roski graduate students form expansive practices by working closely with renowned faculty in both the MFA Art and MA Curatorial Practices programs. In addition to the USC Roski faculty, students have one-on-one access to international artists, performers, curators and critical thinkers through the Visiting Artists and Scholar Seminars that include talks, classes, and studio visits. Recent participants include, among many, Tanya Bruguera, Njideka Akunyili Crosby, Cecilia Fajardo-Hill, Theaster Gates, Julie Mehretu, Julio César Morales, Pepón Osorio, Coco Fusco, Legacy Russell, Candice Lin, and Crenshaw Dairymart.
Roski MFA Art and MA Curatorial Practices graduate students benefit from working side by side in a new facility designed to encourage an open exchange of ideas, knowledge and experiences. The graduate programs facility (located at 1262 Palmetto St., Los Angeles) includes a seminar conference room, an open-plan design studio, individual MFA studios, a makerspace, classrooms and project spaces; along with the Roski Graduate Gallery. The building is located in the Los Angeles Arts District—home to dozens of museums, galleries, design firms, artists and designers. Within walking distance of the Graduate Building are the Institute of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles; Hauser & Wirth; and The Geffen Contemporary at MOCA.
MFA Art
The USC Roski MFA Art program embraces a multidisciplinary approach to artmaking that maximizes a student’s studio experience, with a focus on analytical dialogue as provided by regular individual studio visits with faculty and visiting artists and curators. Group critiques with student peers also play an important part in building relationships, collaborations, and expressive strategies.
The program culminates with an MFA graduate thesis exhibition in the spring of the second year. Exhibitions may be mounted in the new Roski Graduate Gallery a well-appointed 2,000 s/f space with moveable walls and roll-up doors for installation of large-scale works. The gallery features a wall of windows allowing for greater public visibility.
Led by Director Nao Bustamante, MFA students work closely with the school’s internationally acclaimed faculty of artists—including Edgar Arceneaux, Patty Chang, David Kelley, Mary Kelly, Suzanne Lacy, Keith Mayerson, Thomas Mueller, Ruben Ochoa, and Jennifer West.
MA Curatorial Practice
Study with world-renowned art historians, critics and curators amid important arts institutions. The USC Roski MA in Curatorial Practices and the Public Sphere is an intensive graduate program in the practice and history of curating, studied through the lenses of critical theory, art history and visual culture. During two years of full-time academic seminars and professional training, students explore a range of curatorial practices applicable to diverse institutions and curatorial formats.
Courses are led by USC Roski’s acclaimed scholars, curators, artists, and critics including Andrew Campbell, Amelia Jones, Suzanne Lacy, Jenny Lin, Karen Moss (director of the MA program) and Anu Vikram. In three consecutive Practicum courses, students conceptualize and curate their own exhibition or other curatorial project, and produce a publication or alternative public interface. Additionally, students complete scholarly research and write on a topic of their choice for the MA Thesis.
Recent Roski MA Curatorial Practices alums work in galleries and museums including, among others, the California African-American Museum; Getty Research Institute; Hauser & Wirth, LA; Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA); Los Angeles Contemporary Exhibitions (LACE); Ben Maltz Gallery, Otis College of Art and Design; Prospect, New Orleans; Rhizome, NY; The Underground Museum, and the Whitney Museum.
Funding is available on a competitive basis.
